


Catching Hearts

by Genshin



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Comfort, Dream is a good brotherly-figure, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, No Smut, Original Character - Freeform, Pining, Possibly Requited Love, Unrequited Love, Wilbur is a good brotherly-figure, first fic on AO3, technically I just chose a random name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:46:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29100504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Genshin/pseuds/Genshin
Summary: What's the best way to realize that you're in love with your best friend? Him telling you that he's got a girlfriend is probably not one of them.Unfortunately Tubbo finds this out the hard way.
Relationships: Toby Smith | Tubbo/TommyInnit
Comments: 23
Kudos: 211





	1. Catching Hearts

Tubbo hummed lightly as he scrolled through twitter, he was at his desk and had his legs tucked underneath him. He could already feel his legs losing circulation, but to be honest, he didn’t care all that much. He was too focused at the task in hand, not really thinking of anything; just liking tweets he found funny and replying to his friends. That was until he heard a ping from his computer, the recognizable sound of a discord notification ripped him out of his focus.

He glanced at the time _22:13 PM_ , thankfully he didn’t have college to attend tomorrow. He yawned, as he clicked onto the discord app, seeing it was from Tommy.

Tubbo bit his lip, normally he would be ecstatic; they would usually talk for hours on end until one of their parents told them to go to bed. He smiled gently at the memories, sometimes they’d even fall asleep in call together.

Tubbo groaned out a sigh, as he tousled his hair back and out of his face. _I don’t blame him for trying to reach out, I_ have _been avoiding him for the last 3 days._ He clenched his right arm, _but I_ really _don’t want to deal with this._ Tubbo thought, his guilty conscious weighing on him as he wavered the cursor over the text box.

 _It isn’t everyday that you realize you’re in love with your best friend,_ he chuckled mirthlessly. He remembers it like it was yesterday, more accurately though, it was only 4 days ago. He himself knew he wasn’t straight, that wasn’t the problem.

What was a problem however, Tommy's straight as a goddamn ruler.

It was apart of his character he played up for streams of course, but it also was a truth to reality. Tubbo didn’t have a sliver of a chance. He’d have to live with that fact.

He’s been wanting to remove himself from these feelings. Being around the person that makes your breath leave your lungs or wanting to be around them so much it’s actually painful. He’s been living that life basically the whole time he’s been best friends with Tommy, now having a name to the feeling.

He’d probably would’ve gone his entire life not knowing if it wasn’t until Tommy came to him with news.

It was that Tuesday, he and Tommy were fucking around on Counterstrike, when Tommy told him he had an announcement.

-

“Toby?” Tommy mumbled from his mic, his voice tired and not it’s usual boisterous tone. Tubbo always liked seeing what others didn’t, it made him feel a tad bit special.

“What’s up Tom’s?” he lazily called back, stretched out arms over his head. “Well, first off, don’t call me that” Tommy said in disgust, albeit lightheartedly. Tubbo responded with a giggle, “what’s up _Tomathy_ ” he grinned to himself as he heard Tommy make a snark comment back.

“No, but seriously, what did you want to talk about?” shuffling came from the other side of his headphones. A minor “motherfucker” could be heard in the background, “I wanna send you a picture of someone”. Tubbo blinked at that, “uh- alright?” he scooped his phone off from his desk waiting for Tommy to send him the picture. When the notification came up, he saw a nice photo of a girl around their age.

“Who’s she?” Tubbo tried to keep his voice even, he had a sinking feeling; he didn’t know why.

“Her name’s Natalie, she’s pretty cool,” Tommy replied a bit more energetic than before. Tubbo glanced over the photo, she had a pretty average appearance overall, there was a skateboard next to her. “She a friend from college or something?” he clicked off the discord app, he dropped his phone down into his lap, curiosity and a weird sense of dread was all he could feel in that moment.

“Uh- not exactly” Tommy murmured, Tubbo was getting tired of this dancing around the subject. “Okay, then who is she Tommy?” he probably sounded annoyed, but right now he was too tired to care.

“You’re not going to laugh right?” Tommy inquired, Tubbo scrunched his face in confusion; “no promises” he joked but his tone came out flat. “I mean,” he fumbled looking for the right words, “I won’t laugh man, whatever it is” he hoped he sounded genuine. Tommy chuckled in response, “I’m surprised you haven’t called me out on my bs” Tubbo felt his heart sink; he knew why. “She’s my girlfriend, I was thinking of maybe having her as guest on the SMP, ‘course if Dream allows it” Tommy said nonchalantly. What the blonde male didn’t realize is that he quite literally dropped a bombshell on his smaller friend.

Tubbo couldn’t breathe. It felt like someone punched through his lungs and stole all of his oxygen away. _What- what is wrong with me?_ He could feel tears threatening to spill, he fisted his sweatshirt where his heart was.

He still has yet replied to Tommy.

“Tubbo?” came a worried response from his headphones. His hands shook as he brought one to his mouth, he was scared if he even made a noise Tommy would know. _Why am I even crying about this? I should be happy for him_! His anger at himself made it possible for him to calm himself down, enough for him to say a quick “congratulations” and “I’m glad for you dude”. Immediately leaving afterwards, saying he had some homework to do.

He was angry at himself, angry at Tommy, and even angry at this girl he didn’t know. Why was he angry, why did he have to be angry when this should be a happy moment for Tommy? He truly didn’t know, or maybe he did, his head felt like a hurricane swept through and made his entire world upside down.

Tubbo moved over to his bed, grabbing his phone in the process. Sending a quick text to the person he trusted the most with this type of thing, he sniffled and wiped away tears as he waited for a response.

He jumped out of his reverie as he heard the telltale sound of a discord voice call, the ID reading “Dream”.

They didn’t show it too much on stream, but in reality, both him and Dream were fairly close. Having the same dynamic Wilbur and Tommy had on-screen, they had offscreen.

He hit the join button “Hey Tubbs, you good?” a concerned voice came from the other end. More tears slipped out without his consent, hating how his voice broke as he said, “can you help me with something?” his voice was shot but he hoped Dream could hear him alright.

“Of course, what happened?”

Tubbo would describe what transpired only minutes before, expressing his distress about his reaction.

“Toby… you don’t realize?” Dream muttered softly, trying to be as kind as possible with the kid who was obviously in a delicate situation.

“Realize what? That I’m an awful friend” Tubbo responded, anger in his voice, but not directed at Dream.

“No, you’re a very good friend, but I don’t think you realize that...” Dream trailed off, not sure if he should be the one saying this, but he probably understood the most out of anyone.

“I don’t think you realize that, you might have feelings for Tommy” Tubbo froze on the spot, _feelings… for Tommy_ , he would have thought Dream crazy if not for the pain in his chest and the complete sense it made in his mind.

“Feelings?” he choked.

“Feelings” Dream reiterated.

“You think I’m in love with Tommy” he breathed, he didn’t want to agree, but it made the most sense. Not only did it bring a lot of answers, but it also brought too many complications that Tubbo would rather stay away from.

He groaned into his hands, “Dream I’m going to have to avoid Tommy for the rest of my life”. Dream barked out a laugh, Tubbo glared at the receiver “I’m serious”.

He heard another light wheeze, “Tubbo that’s impossible, and not to mention ridiculous”.

Tubbo knew it was ridiculous, but what else was he supposed to do? Finding out you’re in love with your best friend via girlfriend announcement was the _worst_ absolute timing.

“Dream… what am I going to do” his laugh was tired and wrung out.

“Tubbo, this isn’t the end of the world” Dream reassured.

“It might as well be” Tubbo sighed, as he stared at the wall next to him. 

-

Tubbo tapped his desk, his eyes not leaving his computer monitor. He’s been staring at the same message, for about the last 4 hours. The clock read _02:06_ AM, he should really go to bed soon, but he’s agonized over what he should do with this.

_Tommy: Tubbo! My friendddd, we haven’t talked in a good while. You good to vc?_

_(22:14 PM)_

_Tubbo: Sorry man, schools been kicking my ass this week not tonight._

_(22:23 PM)_

_Tommy: Alright, well. Lmk when you’re free I guess._

_(22:27 PM)_

_Tommy: Okay, I know I’m gonna sound all clingy and shit, but I miss talking dude. I haven’t seen or heard you in almost a week. No one has. I’m getting worried, and I don’t know why but I feel like it’s my fault. Which can’t be the case since I am always right and have done nothing wrong ever! However, if I_ have _done something to make you hate me. Lmk what it is pls, I can fix it!_

_(22:43 PM)_

Tubbo hates himself more than ever now, he didn’t realize how obvious he was being. Tommy hasn’t even done anything wrong, it’s all his fault, he’s the one with the problem. He couldn’t blame anyone, not Tommy, not Natalie, not anyone.

He could only truly blame himself.

He’d imagine how it’d be in another timeline, where he and Tommy would have silly Minecraft dates, they go on walks or café dates together, holding hands or just being in each other’s presence. Trying to not flirt on stream, stolen kisses, first times, growing old together. He would sacrifice anything for that reality.

Unfortunately, he was stuck in this one.

Tommy caught his heart without even trying, honestly, it’d probably be the last thing Tommy ever wanted to do. However, he caught it, and in the process broke it without realizing.

Tubbo felt wetness fall onto his hand, he blinked and instead felt wetness flow down his face. He smiled brokenly at the discord message.

There was one thing Tommy could do, but Tubbo knew it was too cruel to ask. So instead, he wrote out a simple reply, that probably only he would get.

_Tubbo: Mind letting my heart go?_

_(02:48 AM)_

Tubbo chuckled, a broken and tragic melody. He wiped the tears from his eyes, as he turned off his monitor and shut down his phone. He moved towards his bed, plopped himself hard onto the mattress. He stared up from his bed to his ceiling.

If only he could catch Tommy’s heart instead.


	2. A Caught Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy has a realization

Tommy’s leg bounced up and down as he flicked his thumb across his phone’s screen. The nervous energy palatable as the minutes ticked by.

A futile attempt at distracting himself, he chewed at his lip as he tried to not check Discord for the millionth time that night. He groaned out a sigh in frustration, dropping his phone onto his desk and leaned back into his chair.

He hated this.

Not only was it hours since he messaged Tubbo, said boy hasn’t even responded back yet. Tommy was worried for his best friend, obviously, but this radio silence just made him a nervous wreck. He sighed as he leaned forward, his eyes slid to the time. The clock seemed to mock him as it read _01:21 AM._

 _Fucking hell, Tubbo’s probably just asleep_ he tried to reason, but knew that his friend had the worst schedule; Tommy would tease him about it constantly.

He ran a hand through his blonde hair, he was being clingy, he knew this. It hasn’t even been a week since they’ve talked. He was just too spoiled, being able to talk to Tubbo hours on end, day after day. Now that was gone, he didn’t know what to do with himself. Even so, his distress wasn’t that unjustifiable.

He remembered it clearly, he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about it. Tommy knows he could be naïve at times, oblivious sure, but he wasn’t stupid.

The night he told Tubbo about Natalie. He heard the pain clearly in his friend’s voice. He would stay quiet as Tubbo congratulated him, his voice shaking from the other side of his headphones. The bleep as Tubbo left the vc made him feel hollow, confused mostly, but at the time he didn’t really know how to react.

He didn’t know what to do, so he decided not to think about it. He would text Wilbur, told him about Tubbo’s weird exit, and then promptly went to bed afterwards.

 _What a great decision that was,_ he snorted as he stared at the black screen of his phone. He worked up the courage to finally check the notifications he’s been ignoring for the last couple of days.

He scanned his contacts and winced lightly as he saw 12 missing texts from Natalie. He skimmed through the wall of text, to say the least, she was pissed at him for ignoring her. He felt a little guilty about leaving her on read, but he couldn’t help but focus on Tubbo, he _is_ his best friend and he just couldn’t keep him off his mind. 

He cared for Natalie of course, but they only did start dating a couple of weeks ago. It was a heat of a moment thing too, originally being only knowing each other through mutual friends. Until a couple of months ago, where they started hanging out, and eventually Natalie asked him out. At first, he wanted to say no, but he would just feel bad later on and he didn’t want to seem like an asshole. So, he was going with it besides, she had nice brown hair and was super short. Reminded him of Tubbo when he first met her kind, sarcastic, bounced off his humor easily, cute...

He blinked.

Cute, _cute_ , his brain short circuited at the same time he tried to reason his mind betraying him. _Of course I wasn’t talking about Tubbo! I was talking about Natalie, but I was comparing her to Tubbo… Do I find Tubbo cute? I mean, he’s sweet and shit, but he can be awkward and a bit of a bitch sometimes, but he’s always got this smile on his face that makes his eyes shine and teasing him always make his face bright red-_

He stopped for a second. _What the hell is wrong with me.._ he groaned as he buried his face into his hands, face hot with embarrassment. He really shouldn’t be thinking about this, _especially_ , about his best friend.

But, as he thought more on it, these thoughts didn’t just come out of nowhere. In the recesses of his mind whenever he and Tubbo were streaming or just simply hanging out. He would notice the small details whenever Tubbo did something. Either that be whenever he smiles shyly into his hand with his ears turning pink or his laugh whenever Tommy did something stupid, which would make Tommy want to do something _even more_ stupid to get another laugh out of him.

 _Holy shit_ Tommy thought, as reality crashed down and buried him under.

Tommy didn’t waste time as he grabbed his phone, and texted Wilbur to call him immediately.

He counted the seconds, until he heard the familiar discord ring, already hitting the join button on his computer monitor.

“Tommy, I swear to God it’s literally 02:27 AM in the morning, if you’re trying to scare me again-”

“Wilbur, I think I fucked up” he muttered.

Wilbur cut himself off, Tommy could hear something being shuffled in the background, and then he saw Wilbur’s webcam turn on.

“What happened Tommy?” Wilbur asked, his tone a mix of concern and amiability.

Tommy snorted out a laugh, where could he start?

“Well, first off, I think I’m in love with Tubbo”. The look of pure shock on Wilbur’s face would’ve made him laugh if not for the dread he felt deep in his stomach. “Before you start teasing me a shit ton, I need you to listen” Wilbur nodded, still slightly slack jawed, but sat back which indicated he was listening.

Tommy breathed in deeply, “I guess the most surprising thing about this is that, I’m not straight, go figure” he chuckled. “Don’t get me wrong, I am still the biggest man and women still love me lots!” he grinned, which in turn made Wilbur sigh out a breath of both relief and a look of complete exasperation.

Tommy glanced away for a moment, “but it makes it me a tad nervous”.

Wilbur nodded, understanding glimmered in his eyes “why does it make you nervous Tommy?”

Tommy sighed, this made him nervous for a lot of reasons. He still has a girlfriend, and how is he going to tell her he’s never been in love with her. He only realized he liked her so much because she was similar to his best friend, how the hell you tell that to somebody. As well, he was actually in love with his best friend, _male_ best friend; don’t get him started on his now ambiguous sexuality... 

“A lot of reasons, mostly, how am I going to talk to Tubbo again” he responded back finally. “If he’ll ever want to speak to me, if there’s a chance..”

He heard Wilbur snort and laugh lightly, he glared at him and pouted, “what’s so funny you old fuck?” he mumbled.

Wilbur flipped him the bird as he finished laughing, he adjusted his glasses “Well, I’m glad you came to me about this Toms” Tommy blanched at the horrible nickname, “also I hope this goes without saying, I completely support you”. Tommy sighed a little, and nodded, “yea don’t get too sappy on me old man” he snarked. Wilbur muttered “child” but before Tommy could refute the older man continued on, “as for my advice, I would tell Tubbo” he said simply. Like it wasn’t the most ridiculous thing ever spoken into existence.

“Wilbur are you fucking insane?” Tommy said in disbelief.

Wilbur rolled his eyes, so no, he did not think himself insane. “Tommy, trust me for one second, I think a lot of misunderstandings would be cleared up if you two talked” Tommy hated to admit it, but Wilbur was probably right on this one.

Tommy clicked his tongue, “fine I’ll try and talk to him tomorrow” he sunk deeper into his chair “if he responds back” he added dejectedly.

Wilbur gives him a look of sympathy, they both said their goodnights, and as the call ended. Before he exited out of Discord, he noticed a red blip on Tubbo’s profile picture.

Butterflies filled his stomach, causing him a level of anxiety he’s never felt before like this. He shook his head lightly, _c’mon this is probably nothing_ , he worked up the courage and he clicked onto the notification.

A simple phrase.

Tommy felt like a complete and utter idiot.

Not only was he the stupidest person on this planet, but the sheer relief and euphoria he felt as he realized what this meant.

He could’ve cried right then and there, the guilt and regret he felt in that moment was a real as well, he would have to explain everything later, for right now though…

He decided to go with something they’ll both understand.

_Tubbo: Mind letting my heart go?_

_(02:48 AM)_

_Tommy: Nope, because you caught mine, it’s yours now. I’m not letting you go that easily._

_(03:01 AM)_

Tommy smiled, he didn’t care it was a bit sappy, it described his feelings perfectly.

He wanted to be with Tubbo, he wanted to see his smile everyday, hearing and seeing him through a screen couldn't ever be enough. If he could barely function without him for a couple of days, there was no way Tommy was letting Tubbo go now. 

Tubbo caught his heart a long time ago, and Tommy didn’t want him to let it go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Thanks for all of the support for the first chapter ^-^!  
> Here's the 2nd chapter, I'm leaving it a bit open ended, I might come back and do a 3rd chapter later. However for right now I'm leaving it as is!
> 
> Hope y'all enjoyed, I appreciate the feedback :D!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! My name's Genshin :D  
> This is my first fic on ao3 for this acc, wanted to do some simple TubboInnit angst.  
> I'm thinking of making a 2nd chapter, but it's a maybe atm  
> Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed ( ^_^)／


End file.
